Incidence of autoimmune disease

There are specific, identified genes that have been found to be common with people having autoimmune diseases. I have them per 23and me testing,...so maybe Lyme just flipped the switch on. Or maybe it was just coincidence.

But the fact is, that now, after lyme, going 100% gluten free stopped my hashimoto from progressing as it was, and my thyroid nodule dissolved after being discovered 10 years prior. I still take supplemental thyroid hormone- but less now.

Nothing I do helps my vitaligo skin condition, its not that bad and im used to it.

Yep, familiar with the gluten protein resembling the thyroid proteins. Do you think your anti microbial therapy also was a factor?

i'm not quite sure what you are looking for - but if you are interested in incidence on different auto-immune conditions and Lyme and co - the following come to mind

-Horowitz - "How can i get better" - lists many of the associations in his patient group ( 12,000+ patients)

-this forum and others like it - just search
--"auto-immune" or "Autoimmune" "SFN"/"Small Fibre Neuropathy","Hashimoto's" "sjogren's syndrome", "MS" "PANDAS" or any other auto-immune condition you care to mention

or in general look at the high number of ANA positive tests ( a broad screening marker for autoimmune disease) often seen in Lyme disease patients routine samples.

to look into the specific mechanisms involved and at the root of this, the scientific journals - available via PubMed are the best place to go
look up "molecular mimicry" - which is the mechanism usually attributed to causing auto-reactive antibodies ( the hall mark of auto-immune disease)

in general - all intracellular infections tend to cause the immune system to target infected cells - thereby breaking those cells down and exposing the contents to the immune system in quantities that are far higher than normal, while also generally raising inflammation in the host which accelerates and dysregulates immune reactions in the body.

chronic infections do this for extended periods of time - increasing the chances of autoreactive antibodies forming

more recent research has linked gut permeability to many, if not all, forms of auto-immune disease - and since all lyme and co tend to cause gut issues ( symptomatic or otherwise) this could be an additional factor in the high level of incidence in this population group.
Dr Mark Pimental seems to be at the forefront of this research in functional gut disorders and auto-immunity

AI disease is generally regarded as a one way street by conventional medicine practitioners - who will say things like - "we need to wait for your pancreas to hurry up an stop making insulin all together so your diabetes will be easier to manage by insulin injections"
treatment focus is on stabilising the patient - even if that means dramatically reduced quality of life or even immunosuppressive drugs - rather than attempting to reverse the disease.

whether it is in fact reversible is highly debated - and some conditions seem to be more reversable than others - eg sometimes hashimotos does seem to resolve and antibodies return to normal ( mine have ) but you rarely hear of type 1 diabetics recovering full insulin control
There are practitioners and patients who claim that it can be done for many conditions - including MS (eg Terry Wahls )often dietary changes and focussing on gut health are the primary methods involved - which does at least seem to link to the Pimental findings. IVIG also seems to have significant benefits for certain AI conditions.

Post Edited (Garzie) : 5/30/2022 5:09:50 AM (GMT-6)

warning! short rant : ai has been the grouping and designation given by medical professionals who have failed to up hold their hippocratic oath imho. in my limited research and client observations, many of the pathogens at the root of autoimmune illnesses are very much intercellular and often require more than one antimicrobial to penetrate its cell wall even if it is outside the rbc. according to my giemsa stain microscopy not just protozoal infections and borrelia enter the cells but also gram negative bacteria and mycoplasma also replicate there. so lets say the immune system was doing its job and trying to attack the perpetrating pathogens but lets also say the pathogens are inside the cells , that would explain why it seem to be the body attacking itself . they have a name for every area of the body this happens if its in the spine they call it A.s. , if its in the thyroid its called hashimoto for the doc that noticed it, if its in the digestive they call it chrohns, if its in the nerves they call it ms or als , if its in the bones they call it rhuemitoid arthritis, if its systemic and varies they call it lupus , if its in the lymph they call M. gravis , if its in the blood vessels they call it vasculitis and if it happens in the middle east its called gulf war syndrome and so forth and so on .....
so they had the bright idea of killing ones immune system response with either steroids or weak chemotherapy both of which seriously harms the patient in the long term ; when the pathogens have no white blood cells to contend with people will have "flares" of increasing symptomolgy. As we all almost were or are babesia infected persons , we know exactly what and how long it takes to clear that simple malarial from our blood and spleens .+ if almost all of americans eat uncooked beef and these cows have ticks in the pastures or farms , then any bloody meat could be a transmission point , at any point ... also with recent viral insults with added immune suppression ; expect to see a lot more of these generalized diagnosis...as garzie said there are some docs doing real research but one must dig to find real answers.

this is how i regulated my th1/th2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21757889/

Post Edited (bluelyme) : 5/31/2022 1:32:22 AM (GMT-6)

No ones going to find every little pathogen they have.

Once AI starts, its like a runaway train, it just does not automatically stop because that pathogen is gone. The damage is there. might improve though.

This is why correct diet for your body and fixing all gut issues are necessary- your gut is the basis of your immune system.

And why are chronic lymies, "chonic" when most tick infected people dont get to the chronic stage? - prob cause your immune system was not completely right to begin with , (even though you might not have noticed).

On that note- I did the impossible per endos- improved my hashimoto after 25 years of getting worse. Not fully cured though. Why? Because my thyroid is physically changed and damaged per imaging. If your big toe is smashed beyond repair- it wont heal on its own and you probably wont walk the same as before when barefoot.

Heck I’m just hoping to clear enough pathogens to get my immune system to take over. LOL. But I hear ya Astro, recently discovered a corn sensitivity as well as dairy. Wonder how much that screwed me up along the way?



I hear ya too Girlie. I believe Blue Lyme, are we being exposed in multiple ways so that our immune system can’t cope on its own.